Installing Red Hat 7.3 on a Compaq Presario 711CL Laptop

Making progress on the laptop, one utility and one encrypted DVD at a time.

The Compaq Presario 711 is a nice upgrade
from my 475MHz AMD desktop system. The configuration I recently
bought from Costco.com includes too many features to list here, but
it has more than two times the power that my desktop system has and
includes a FireWire port and an 8x DVD drive. The pre-installed
version of Windows XP wasn't a big selling point for me, though; I
wanted to use Linux on my new laptop.

Linux has made great progress on desktop systems. Installing
a modern operating system like RH 7.3 on a desktop is almost easy
enough for Aunt Minnie, as Jerry Pournelle likes to call the
everyday computer user. But laptop installs are a different matter.
The hardware on laptops is less generic than what's on the desktop,
but with the move to ATX-style motherboards with integrated
peripherals, this has become less of a problem.

The Presario Laptop

The first step toward Linux freedom on my new Presario was a
basic install of Red Hat 7.3. For me this consists of selecting a
laptop install from the friendly GUI installation manager, and then
going through the package list to remove everything but the bare
essentials needed to get X and the development tools up and
running. The only real issue with the installer is that it doesn't
auto-detect the video chipset the Presario has, which is a
variation of the Savage chipset called Savage Twister K. So you
have to manually select “Savage” from the list of video drivers
presented during the install.

Once I have the basic setup installed and running
startx from a shell prompt, giving me a nice
plain X screen, I copy over all the Red Hat CDs to a new directory
named /RPMS/. I find this makes life much easier when I discover
something missing from the system. I can install it in a few
seconds, and I don't have a lot of the extra baggage that modern
distributions bring to clutter up the hard drive. With a 20GB drive
available, there is no reason not to install 2GBs of RPM packages
so that you will always have them available.

I use Window Maker as my window manager, and I don't install
GNOME or KDE and their associated load of cruft. This has become
somewhat of a crusade for me lately; when I upgrade my hardware I
actually like to see my applications run faster instead of running
bigger applications at the same speed as before (or, in some cases,
slower). I see a strong trend in the GNOME and KDE communities
toward feature bloat, which ends up negating the increases in
processor speed and available RAM.

But that doesn't mean you have to follow my heretical habits.
One of the greatest benefits of using a liberating operating system
such as Linux, and all of the associated programs, is you can mix
and match the packages to suit your tastes. The changes I am going
to describe will work equally well on a stock GNOME- or KDE-based
Red Hat install, if that's what you use. So, on to the tweaks we
need to make to get your Linux laptop up to snuff.

One of the first things I'll cover is the fact that the basic
Red Hat 7.3 will install and run on the Presario, but the correct
power management system isn't enabled. The Presario, as well as an
increasing number of newer laptops, uses the ACPI power management
interface instead of the older APM system. Because of this, you
will notice the processor and fan run at full blast, trying to do
their own version of the Chernobyl disaster while sitting on your
lap.

As I write this on my Presario, it is running X,
OpenOffice.org, the xine DVD player and a number of Window Maker
docking apps. The CPU usage is hovering around 30%, the fan is on
low and the laptop is a comfortable temperature. Without ACPI
working it can get very hot, to the point where it's uncomfortable
to hold it on your lap.

In addition to power management, the sound card has to be
dealt with, as does one of those wonderful LinModems and the lack
of RS-232 serial ports. As an added bonus, I'll tell you how to
play your favorite DVD movies while still getting work done.

One subject that I won't cover is software suspend. Patches
are available that are reported to work for some people. I didn't
have any success when I tried applying them to my kernel, and there
were too many differences for me to attempt to hand-patch. Because
of the nature of software suspend, I am reluctant to try and
shoe-horn it into my kernel myself; I'd rather wait until a well
tested version makes its way into the kernel tree.

Power Management

The most important of the modifications outlined above is
power management. Modern laptops depend on the operating system to
correctly interface with the hardware power management system.
Older laptops used a system called APM, while newer laptops are
starting to use the ACPI system instead. As I mentioned before, the
default Red Hat 7.3 install has APM power management enabled
instead of the ACPI power management system that the Presario uses.
There is an ACPI system included in the 2.4.18-4 kernel, but it is
somewhat outdated and doesn't provide the /proc/acpi interface
required by wmacpi. The latest ACPI patch as of this writing is
acpi-20020726-2.4.18.diff. It provides a better /proc/ interface to
the status of the machine and the state of the battery. This patch
is available from
acpi.sf.net, but read on
before you run off and try to patch your kernel.

As luck would have it the new ACPI patch doesn't apply
cleanly against the Red Hat kernel-source-2.4.18-4 RPM packaged
source tree. A considerable amount of hand-tweaking is needed to
get the kernel to compile correctly after applying the patch. You
also need the kacpi patch, which fixes a problem the Presario has
with losing track of ACPI interrupts. This patch is available from
Juliusz Chroboczek's excellent web page (see Resources). If this
patch isn't included, the kernel will miss interrupts and ACPI
power management will be disabled. I modified the kapcid patch a
bit so that it wouldn't report the missed interrupts—there were so
many of them that it was filling up my logs.

Instead of talking you through all the tweaks I made to get
the new version of ACPI working, I have provided a complete patch
that handles all of the issues I cover in this article, which can
be downloaded from my web site at
www.brianlane.com.
This patch will apply cleanly against a standard Red Hat 2.4.18-4
kernel tree, so here is how to patch your kernel (it isn't as hard
as you may have been led to believe).

Let's get started by installing a clean RH 7.3 kernel with
the following commands:

Go to general setup, deselect APM support and select ACPI
support and type y for all the ACPI options
except “CPU Enumeration Only”. Save and exit the kernel
configuration, and then build and install the kernel:

make dep; make clean; make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
make install

This will create the new kernel, called 2.4.18-4acpi, install
it into /boot, create an initrd and update the bootloader (Grub in
my case).

If you are feeling adventurous, you can edit /etc/grub.conf
(or LILO, if that's what you're using) and select the new kernel as
the default. But always keep a spare around, just in case. Reboot
your machine, and make sure that there is now a /proc/acpi
directory tree. Look at /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state to see the
current state of your battery. Mine, for example, looks like this
when running from the battery:

thanks Brian, now I'm finish the isntalation of red hat 8.0 on my presario 711cl. The Xfree86server is OK, I select the SAVAGE4 driver. I recently install my Modem but i dont have time to make a test... I post any Comentary about my experency.

Thanks for the great help for the linux laptop users. I have a Presario 1510 and just installed RH7.3. I am in the process of following the steps you described and try to get acpi to work. After download kernel-source-2.4.18-4, apply your patch, build the kernel and modules, and reboot, I still didn't see the BAT0 state as you suggested. Is there anything special should do to apply your patch for Pentium4 CPU?

Yip RedHat 8.0 is out & I'm busy trying to get all the stuff, as described above, working. I got everything working with 7.3 but updated my kernel to 2.4.19. I did not use the patch mentioned above but rather used the seperate acpi patch and the kacpi patch and it worked fine with the 2.4.19 kernel. Will let you know how I got on with RedHat 8.0. The modem also worked fine.

Well..... I have a COMPAQ Presario 712EA (UK Model.. Think its the same as the 715US???) and I'm going to try this. Yes I agree M$ Win XP is easier to install cause they optimised the laptop for it BUT if I had time to write about the difficulty I had to install Windows 2000 on it it would take up 2 times more space than this article. I want to install Linux... even if it is only to prove a point and start doing something about the M$ monopoly rather than complaining about it and writing about it on web sites USING M$ PRODUCTS!!!! Change the wolrd one step at a time..... This is going to be myfirst experience installing Linux so lets hope it isgoing to be a good one and not one that is going to put me off Linux for another 2-3 years...

Now......stop complaining on your website and advocate with the rest of us....maybe even write a few HOW-TOs and upload 'em to your space.

Micro$oft's market share is detectably dropping, and I'm doing my share to convert their hapless customers--especially the corporate accounts. That's the best use for an MCSE certification, BTW, it's a calling card for freeing the slaves.

yea so do i, linux on laptops have always been particularly painful as well... given the amount of bull***** he had to go through (hand applying kernel patches over and over and over again) it seems as though it hasn't gone far either.. i've been using linux on and off since '95 and the simple fact that one still has to recompile the kernel and apply hacked together patches from random websites all over the net is extremely disheartening, why don't the major linux companies focus on this area of user headache rather than reworking their installers multiple times (yes i am looking at you mandrake) i've used every major distribution and it's saddening to continue to read articles like this one.. I'm even typing this from XP on my laptop why you ask? because my g/f demanded that I put windows back on (used to be mandrake) because even basic things don't work by default (sound anyone?) and i didn't feel like going through the excruiating process of configuring it, it's just easier to install windows than it is to dick around with configs for days when i can i have a workable desktop in less than an hour with XP, until this situation is reversed or they can at least be called equal I don't think Linux will have a shot in hell at making it onto the desktop or anywhere else real people (not nerds geeks and malcontents like you and i ;)) have to work with it... personally i grew tired of the seemingly completely random nature of linux (which isn't far from teh truth considering all it's pieces are developed all over the world without collaboration with ti's other parts, yes the LSB Is a step in the right direction but they can hardly be called adequate even now) as a result i've been running openbsd on my servers for it's simple elegance in design and functionality rock solid stability anhd legendary security.. as it stands XP owns all my desktop machines because Linux hasn't been able to prove itself worthy as of yet, especially in the arena of gaming, in which I spend a lot of my time =) does that mean I support M$? no i loathe them, and they haven't seen a penny of revenue from me ever (well since a 486 dx/2 66 was my primary desktop and there were no alternatives in those days either) but as M$ gets worse and worse more corporations will put more and more effort into developing linux and hopefully it will be able to catch up quickly, remember M$ is better but M$ has a 10+ year head start which is more like 100 years in computer time.. look how far we've come so far, and imagine what linux will be like in another 10 years, personally I can't wait.. in the meantime the stickers on my car evanglize for me ;P

I am typing this on a fully-functioning Dell Inspiron 4100 notebook, Red Hat 7.3 installed without a problem, everything works. I did not need to apply any patches, recompile the kernel, or jump though a single hoop. Two USB CD-RW were detected and installed during boot, and never once was I asked to insert a driver disk, reboot the machine, or sign away my soul, first-born and entire net-worth. Selfish as it may be, Linux is ready for my desktop and my desktop is the only one I am concerned with.

But for most people who don't have days to browse the net, or even enjoy working with computers, installing Linux is unacceptable. I do believe I seen a couple replies up there about installing without rebooting, tweaking, or patching.

Better thank the gods, cause that is really rare and just might not happen again with future hardware.

Tell you what - wipe out your hard drive on your Presario Laptop and install MS-WindowsXP (the correct designation - you are truly an obstinate fool in your continual use of 'XP' as MS doesn't own the copyright to the letters 'XP') - and then write up an article on the exact steps to get it installed back to the way it was when you bought it.

You'll find out the hard way .. just like my co-worker did when he bought a second harddisk for his Comcrap laptop.

I'm very curious on one point however: how did you choose the Presario 711CL? Laptops are notorious for having oddbal components that you can't replace. Did the retailer let you try out Linux first, to give you some confidence in the feasibility? Or, was the machine sufficiently well documented that you were confident you had support for all the components? If the latter, could you post your component checklist? If it was a blind gamble (yes, the ATX motherboard is a help -- where did you find out it had one?), let us know that as well.

As for the person who pointed out how easy XP would be to install: you didn't read, much less understand, the EULA.

First to clear up a bit of confusion -- Now that I reread that part on ATX motherboards I realize that when it edited it down I screwed it up. I meant that ATX motherboards on desktops have made them easier to support, and that laptops, with their propriatary hardware, are still hard to set things up for.

I chose the 711 because of its price, amount of memory, and the fact that there are several 700 series webpages that showed that it isn't impossible to get Linux running on it.

As for the EULA, from my understanding it allows Microsoft to upload changes to your system without your permission. Not something that I'm likely to agree to any time soon!

XP runs on this system, but only because it has been customized for it. There are 4 recovery CDs, all from Compaq not Microsoft, that you can use to restore your system. I would expect that a plain copy of XP Home from the store would install but not take advantage of the laptop's features.

But then again, when I wanted to have a powerful workstation with great development tools and a Web server, all I did was buy a used PC for $115, slap Linux on there, and suddently I had a system that under Micro$oft would cost, what, three thousand bucks?

I'll muck around for a Saturday getting the system going if it saves me that kind of money.

You're an idiot. Since MS-WindowsXP (the XP designation is technically incorrect) is pre-installed, you're comparing Apples and oranges.

Try blanking out the hard-disk and installing MS-WindowsXP from scratch. Then tell us how much easier it is to install - you'll find out that you are incorrect in your assessment and my assessment that you are an illiterate moron is more accurate.

gee, I've never once had to use any of those commands you're referring to .. and I only use the command line on my laptop occasionally ..

And you most certainly are a moron if you think installing MS-WindowsXP (again, you need to learn to use the *correct* designation) is easier. Of course, maybe you don't mind the incorrect default drivers that get chosen for you.

DO you know how many articles I've read that tell you to boot into Windows and get a setting, or driver name, etc ?

And I've just spent AT LEAST 10 hours reading articles, and rebooting, crashing, rebooting my Presario 990z to get it to at least give me a Linux prompt. Did I mention I installed Win XP Pro in 55 minutes, secured it in 2 hours ?

Hate the way MS does business, but you have to admit, they are LIGHT years beyond any of the *nixes.

Good thing I have a couple spare computers around the house, or I'd be really pissed at a 800 dollar paperweight without MS.

I found myself grinning madly as the read the article because it reminded me of Jerry Pournelle's articles for Byte Magazine. Except that the author did not have a team of Navy SEALS parachute in to apply the patches and tweak the settings.

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